Cassava

• Indigenous to South America, and a staple food in many African societies

• Very tough plant: very drought-tolerant, reproduces by cuttings, grows in marginal soil

• Nutritional value: high in carbohydrates, but not in protein, and a diet high in cassava can produce malnutrition

• It is toxic, but with processing (soaking and fermentation), it is edible. Its toxicity also makes it resist pests.

Food crops in Ghana brought from South America

Boro in Twi means from afar/abroad

• borode = plantain• aborobe = pineapple• aburo = corn

Although---• bankye = cassava

Agriculture in Africa• Production of

domesticated plants using handheld tools

• Rain as the source of moisture

• Major crops: grains such as millet and sorghum, and root crops like yam and cassava

• Cultivated fields not used permanently, year after year, but remain fallow

Agriculture in Africa• Lower yield per

acre than intensive agriculture but less human labor also

• Average plot size are less than an acre; 2.5 acres can support 5-8 people a year.

• Population densities are low, but villages may be large (100-1,000 people)

Slash-and-Burn Farming• A field is cleared by

felling the trees and burning the brush

• The burned vegetation is left on the land, preventing drying out of the soil

• Ash serves as fertilizer• Very little weeding

required because of the ash cover

• Fields used for a few years and then allowed to lie fallow (up to 20 years) so that the forest cover can be rebuilt and soil fertility restored

Horticulture and the Environment

• So long as the land is allowed to remain fallow until it rejuvenates, the system is sustainable.

• However, access to land by ranchers, miners, tourists, and farmers; horticulturalists’ desire to increase production for cash; and population growth can mean that the land becomes degraded.

Agriculturalists & Gender• Men’s and women’s work

roles often clearly defined

• A common pattern is for women to grow staple crops for food and men to grow cash crops or earn cash through other means

• The differences in work roles have implications for the status of men and women.

Agriculturalists & Gender

• With an increase in crops grown for sale (cash crops like cotton, cocoa, etc) rather than crops grown for household use (staples or food crops), men tend to dominate in farming

• The introduction of the market economy has thus tended to benefit men, not women.